Arthur Szyk's Anti-Nazi Artwork in New Britain

ROGER CATLIN

NEW BRITAIN — Before he died in New Canaan in 1951 at the age of 57, Arthur Szyk had established himself as a graphic artist and illustrator with a distinctive style. Born into a Jewish family in Poland in 1894, he was always acutely aware of the political situations there, publishing his first book of devastating caricatures about post- World War I Germany in 1919.

A fan of the American Revolution, Szyk traveled to the States in 1933 for his exhibit " Washington and His Times." And he found a safe haven here when World War II broke out, producing caricatures of Nazi Germany that were even more devastating.

Throughout his life, he knew his art was only a way to express his political activism, saying once, "Art is not my aim, it is my means." Eleanor Roosevelt called him a "one-man army." American soldiers are said to have preferred his wicked caricatures over pin-ups of the day. Still, he had to suffer the interrogations of the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1951, when he had a heart attack.

While some of his best-known illustrations were rich in colors, rivaling the illuminated drawings of the Renaissance, the current show "A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Swords: The Illustrations of Arthur Szyk" at the New Britain Museum of American Art concentrates on his exacting and sometimes surprisingly tiny pen-and-ink and pencil drawings.

Drawn from the collection of Gregg and Michelle Philipson of Austin, Texas, the show is part of a two-pronged exhibit marking the 25th anniversary of the Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Hartford.

A companion exhibit, " Dr. Seuss and Arthur Szyk: A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Swords," opens Monday at the William Singer Gallery at the George J. Sherman and Lottie K. Sherman Museum of Jewish Civilization at the Mortensen Library in the Harry Jack Gray Center at the University of Hartford. A keynote lecture there at 7 p.m. Monday will be delivered at the 1877 Club at the University of Hartford by Gregg Philipson.

A symposium is set for Sunday from 2:30 to 5 p.m. at the Greenberg Center on "The Art of Collecting," chaired by Cheryl Chase, with collector Philipson, SusAnna and Joel Grae of New York, and Sherry Buckberrough, chairwoman of the art history department at the University of Hartford.

The Szyk exhibit at the New Britain Museum of American Art continues through Jan. 30.

'New/Now'

Also showing at the New Britain Museum is a "New/Now" exhibit by New York painter Christopher Pugliese, whose aim is to do anything but the new in his show "Meaningful Paintings in the Paintings of the Old Masters."

His is the show that is undone by an artist's statement that says too much. He says he was drawn to the style of the Old Masters against the tide of SoHo, where he grew up the son of a pair of artists. Actually, it's no great hardship to be a realist painter, especially at a place like the New Britain Museum, where lifelike paintings that approach illustration are especially cherished.

Pugliese is an avid draftsman with a facility for the medium, but as he says in his artist's statement, he had a tough time deciding what to paint. So his gaze doesn't go much further than his mirror, reflecting himself in a number of canvases that have gimmicky parts jutting out, usually to feature his paint-blotched palette. That's before he moves to the naked female form, about which he says he was inevitably drawn, even in a post-feminist era.

Pugliese may be best, though, when he puts his ego and hormones aside and paints portraits of others in sensitive works.

The show continues through Jan. 23. An opening reception is Friday during the museum's First Friday event from 5:30 to 8 p.m., with the artist speaking at 6 p.m.

Also This Week

The Greater Hartford Artists' Open Studio Weekend is a week away. But tonight, there's a 21st Annual Open Studio Hartford Reception, featuring more than 100 works of art and three live performances at the ArtSpace Gallery, 555 Asylum St., from 6 to 8 p.m.

The show "Coming of Age" will also feature one piece of work from all the artists registered as Open Studio Weekend event artists. There are 128 artists and 36 artisans registered. A best of show and best theme interpretation will be selected by a jury that includes Stephen Kornhauser, chief conservator at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art; Power Boothe, outgoing dean of the Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford; and Pat Rosoff, head of the creative arts program at Kinswood Oxford School in West Hartford. The group show continues through Nov. 15. Other Open Studio Events this weekend include a poetry reading Saturday at 2 at the ArtSpace Gallery.

Saturday, the Connecticut River Artisans Cooperative in Chester holds its annual gathering of artists and artisans for a holiday sale from 2 to 5 p.m.

Algerian-born artist Fethi Meghelli opens his show "A Journey of Passions" Tuesday at the Sue and Eugene Mercy Jr. Gallery in the Richmond Art Center at the Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor . A reception is set from 6:45 to 8:45 p.m. The show continues through Dec. 12.

Robert Storr, dean of the Yale School of Art, talks about the evolution of drawing in the 20th century Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Wadsworth Atheneum in conjunction with the exhibit "American Moderns on Paper: Masterworks from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art," which continues through Jan. 17.

At the Atheneum's After Hours program tonight from 5 to 8, Erin Monroe, acting curator of American painting and sculpture, will give a tour of the current "American Moderns on Paper" exhibit at 5:30 and 6:30 p.m.

An exhibition of work by photographer Jake Anderson titled "Homeless Souls" opens today at the Clare Gallery at the Franciscan Center for Urban Ministry, 285 Church St., Hartford. The show continues through Dec. 26; an opening reception Nov. 17 at 5:30 p.m. will include a panel discussion on homelessness.

"Nurture: Stories of New Midlife Mothers," focusing on women who chose motherhood after the age of 40, opens today at Hartford Seminary, 77 Sherman St., featuring photographs by Tracy Cianflone and former Courant photographer Shana Sureck. A reception is today from 5 to 7 p.m.; the show continues through Nov. 22.

The first exhibit at Fairfield University's newly opened Bellarmine Museum of Art, "Gifts from Athens: New Plaster Casts from the Acropolis Museum and Photographs by Socratis Mavrommatis," continues through Dec. 17. Six of the casts represent sculpture from the Parthenon; others are from the Acropolis and the Nike Parapet.

The West Hartford Art League reopens its renovated Saltbox Gallery with a 75-year retrospective of the work of Priscilla Houghton Flynn, who turns 90 this year. She has invited 16 friends and former instructors to participate. Flynn has been in 50 invitational and juried shows over the years with works that include landscapes, portraits, still lifes and abstracts. "Priscilla Flynn: A Retrospective with Friends" opens with a reception Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. It continues through Nov. 28 at the gallery, 37 Buena Vista Road, West Hartford.

Works of Andy Brayam and Kathy Butterly are featured in "Brayman & Butterly: Contemporary Ceramics," opening Tuesday at the Joseloff Gallery at the University of Hartford. A reception is set from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday; the show runs through Dec. 19.

Robert Thorson, author and professor of geology at the University of Connecticut, speaks on the significance of stone walls in New England Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Real Art Ways, where Olu Oguibe's 40-foot indoor stone wall is on display through March 20.